Brother Rice High School

FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT BROTHER RICE HIGH SCHOOL - PAGE 3

Elizabeth F. Barton, 87, who started volunteering at Brother Rice High School when the Catholic school was founded in 1955 and never stopped supporting the South Side school, died Sunday at home in Oak Lawn. Mrs. Barton and her late husband, John, raised their seven children in Chicago's Beverly neighborhood and put three sons through Brother Rice. Three daughters attended Mother McAuley High School next door to Brother Rice, and a fourth son attended Quigley High School in downtown Chicago.

In some ways, the apparent racial attack in Chicago's Armour Square neighborhood Friday night was a gut-wrenching reminder of decades past. But in other, more fundamental, ways, the incident reflects how times have changed--for all but the most obtuse. Police and witnesses say three white men shouted racial epithets at 13-year-old Lenard Clark, pulled him from his bicycle, slammed his head against a building, repeatedly kicked him and left him for dead. Lenard, who is black, survived the vicious attack but had not yet regained consciousness Monday.

Kids can go to camp this summer to learn everything from acrobatics to zoology. At a camp at Western Michigan University this week, 360 tall teenagers are learning how to become millionaires. They are participants at the Bronco Big Men Camp and hope someday to make big bucks in the National Basketball Association. Two are 7 feet 3 inches and twins: Mike and Jim Lanier of Brother Rice High School in Birmingham, Mich. Many college coaches have stopped by the camp, and they can`t take their eyes off the Laniers.

The last time Grace Lavin saw her brother, Marine Cpl. Conner Lowry, it was via an Internet video call in January. From somewhere in Afghanistan, he teared up as they talked, looking very much like he missed home, she said. Thursday afternoon, Lavin 17, came home from school to find the front door open and three Marines in the kitchen. She immediately knew why they were there. Lowry, 24, died Thursday while conducting combat operations in Afghanistan's Helmand province, according to a Department of Defense release that offered no further details.

If several alumni of Chicago's Leo Catholic High School have their way, a branch of the school may soon be located in the southwest suburbs. Graduates of the school at 79th and Sangamon Streets have been meeting over the last several weeks with officials of the Chicago archdiocese about the possibility of building a new Catholic high school in the Orland-Tinley Park area while retaining the current school in the city. Although the discussions are still preliminary, some Leo alumni are confident that the idea eventually will be implemented.

At the same time that officials at Brother Rice High School scrambled to deal with the fallout from last week's racial incident involving some of its students, a gathering of other students from across the Chicago area agreed that racism remains a fact of life in their schools and that remedies seem few and far between. From self-segregating lunchrooms and fisticuffs in locker rooms to strained classroom discussions, an undercurrent of racial tension touches a range of schools, private or public, city or suburban, said most students at the downtown meeting of the Future Leaders Chicago conference organized by the Chicago Community Trust.

"In 2007, a panel of seven professional historians from the Chicago History Museum reviewed all of the evidence in this case and unanimously found that Quinn 'died as the result of injuries he suffered in the line of duty.' These historians concluded, 'We can say with certainty that Constable Quinn is the earliest known Chicago Police Officer to die in the line of duty.' " Chicago Police Memorial Foundation website On Dec. 5,...

Ever since Brother Rice High School students were accused of hurling racist taunts at a black basketball player from an opposing team, seniors Brandon Bradley and Mike Battaglia have listened to outsiders make equally hurtful statements. White students have been labeled racists. Blacks have been called "sellouts." The student body of 1,400 boys has been told it is in need of sensitivity training and lessons in surviving in a racially diverse world. From Brandon's and Mike's perspectives, the criticisms are misplaced.

The hundreds of people clutching American flags and huddling against a chilly breeze Friday morning outside Brother Rice High School on Chicago's Southwest Side fell silent as the silver hearse carrying the body of Marine Cpl. Conner Lowry glided to a stop in front of his alma mater. After a brief pause, James Habisohn, a senior at Brother Rice who is friends with Lowry's sister, stepped forward and played taps on his trumpet, the song's mournful notes the only sound piercing the silence.

Thomas F. Carmody Jr., presiding judge of the Bridgeview courthouse, was a loyal alumnus of Brother Rice High School. A member of the Class of 1969, Judge Carmody could be counted on for any duty from serving pizza after athletic events to emceeing the annual alumni dinner. Judge Carmody, 56, died Sunday, April 20, after having a heart attack on the 9th tee at Gleneagles Country Club in Lemont, said his brother, Matt. Judge Carmody was a lifelong resident of Evergreen Park.